Books published by SteinerBooks, Inc

A comprehensive picture of the evolution of the earth, and life on earth in a single monumental work by an esteemed geologist.

"One could say that a parable contains a larger lesson in a bite-sized portion. Using other words, a parable is a simple short story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson.... The word parable can be traced back to Middle English and Old French origins as parabole and to the ecclesiastical Latin sense of parabola, meaning "discourse, allegory, or comparison."... Parables use comparison, allegory, imagery, analogy, or a short story to convey a larger meaning." (from the book)Torin Finser writes that parables involve "looking down" (or out) to find an often-overlooked object, and then "looking up" to the eternal truth that can be brought down to children. How can we do both? Can we teach our children to see not only what is on the desks before them, but also what surrounds them in nature and in circles above them in the starry heavens and beyond? Parables may help us!

"Their complete understanding of each other and those two great spirits passing into each other created an atmosphere, perceptible to all, that had bearing force and radiated hope for the future." --Marie Steiner-von SiversPeter Selg wrote this remarkable book on the formation of spiritual community and mutual assistance to coincide with the hundredth anniversary of Christian Morgenstern's death on March 31, 1914. Rudolf Steiner was, for Christian Morgenstern, the decisive spiritual teacher and facilitator of the future, both historically and to him as an individual, which is why Morgenstern wished to recommend Steiner for the Nobel Peace Prize. Rudolf Steiner felt great warmth of heart and gratitude toward Christian Morgenstern, his poetic work, and especially his groundbreaking way of working with anthroposophical Spiritual Science. "It is often said that to understand the poet we must go to his home country and understand that Christian Morgenstern is a poet of the spirit. And to understand this poet of the spirit, we must go into the land of spirit, to spirit regions." --Rudolf Steiner

8 lectures in Dornach, January 4-13, 1918 & December 24, 1920.

Examining the sense of unity and harmony in architecture, and calling for a return to the use of proportion, this book ranges impressively from ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome to the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Enlightment.

A unique anthology presenting the life and work of Christian Rosenkreutz and his importance for our time.

"It is a well-known fact that The Isenheim Altarpiece has in the past been seen as having central significance as a 'medium for healing' by the Antonites. To what extent this function has taken hold again in our 'modern' times can be seen not only in the steadily growing numbers of visitors, but also in the fact that this book had to be republished after such a short time." --Michael Schubert (preface to 2nd ed.) The Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald is one of the most important and monumental works of Western art. Even today, five hundred years after its completion, it continues to present riddles to its viewers--its origin and creator, as well as its theological and esoteric content and intent. The book offers a systematic and informed introduction to the history, meaning, and background of the altarpiece. Moreover, numerous new interpretations are presented, which elaborate upon and fundamentally alter previous perspectives. Included are more than 200 high-quality color reproductions and in-depth visual analysis.

Rudolf Steiner's work and words, still largely undiscovered as compared to their value for humanity, continue to point the way toward a different path-a way of knowing that encompasses the fullness, the breadth and depth of life and the worlds we inhabit.

In this insightful book, John Bloom, author of The Genius of Money, explores approaches toward transforming the conventional habits of mind and practice that have led to today's imbalance in our economic life and in society as a whole. Acknowledging that money has permeated almost every aspect of daily life--including our relationships to nature and to one another--Bloom asks: How and why did we arrive at our current forms of social practice, including organizational life and governance? From this inquiry arises a major reconsideration of personal and cultural conditioning and our economic selves, as well as our systems of exchange, in order to understand how we can be in the next economy in a way that supports and celebrates our human capacities. John Bloom offers an argument for returning natural resources, work, and forms of capital to their origins as gifts rather than as commodities. By adopting such a framework, we can find a deeper meaning and purpose for stewarding these economic gifts on behalf of a more livable and interdependent future.

An inspiring account of a unique approach to autism, which involves going behind the diagnostic labels and holistically addressing all aspects of the child and their environment.

"Translation of Das Faust-Problem: Die romantische und die klassische Walpurgisnacht Geisteswissenschaftlich Erlèauterungen zu Goethes "Faust" Band II, published by Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach, Switzerland, 1981"--Title page verso.

The book is a translation of the German "Vier Mysteriendramen", vol 14 in the collected Works of Rudolf Stiner.

Examines a powerful way of looking at children's challenging behaviour and assessing suitable therapies.

An indispensable resource for anyone teaching gardening to children, including a comprehensive curriculum and activities.

The initial period of childhood is essentially about adapting to and incarnating on Earth and establishing a provisional balance between the "spiritual" and the "physical," between the prenatal cosmic and the earthly factors. During this time, according to Rudolf Steiner, "all the forces of a child's organization emanate from the neurosensory system. . . . By bringing respiration into harmony with neurosensory activity, we draw the spirit-soul element into the child's physical life." Peter Selg investigates how children's early experience of the world begins as an undifferentiated sensory relationship to their phenomenological environment. This aspect of a child's incarnation leads to learning through imitation and to the process of recognizing "the Other" as a separate entity with which to interact. In this cogent work, Peter Selg describes the early stages of childhood from the perspectives of conventional scientific and spiritual-scientific-- anthropological and anthroposophic--research with the purpose of encouraging a new educational attitude in working with young children. In his numerous references to early childhood development, this was Rudolf Steiner's most important and urgent purpose. ∞ ∞ ∞"Steiner directed attention to the special character of the senses in childhood, particularly in the first few years of life. Through their senses, children are fully exposed to (and to some extent at the mercy of) objects and people around them.... In many of his lectures, especially those dealing with education and developmental physiology, Rudolf Steiner emphasized that the anthropology of early childhood must not only recognize the child as a 'comprehensive' or 'universal' sense organ, but must also give that recognition top priority in any consideration of what is involved in the child's life and experiences. 'Children are completely like sense organs in how they take in the contents of their surroundings'" (from chapter 2).

This book is a meditation on the different aspects of colour, particularly its relationship to healing.

After some three millennia, why write anything further on the Ten Commandments? They have been discussed, parsed, codified, moralized, and much more. In this book, Ernst Katz discusses the Ten Commandments in terms of the evolution of human consciousness, suggesting that we need to view this ancient moral guide in whole new ways. Using the Spiritual Science of Rudolf Steiner and his lifetime of study as a framework, Dr. Katz holds the Ten Commandments against the background of cosmic evolution, including the development of the tenfold human makeup, biblical prophecies, and the turning point in time of Christ's incarnation on Earth and his "fulfillment" of the Law. In the present time of the human consciousness soul, it is imperative that we renew our view of the Ten Commandments and the whole nature and meaning of morality. With the development of "I"-consciousness and autonomous human conscience, we must no longer simply follow an externally impressed law but express the spiritual inner law of conscience. Ernst Katz writes: "The aim of this study is to develop a better understanding of the spiritual origin of the Commandments; the reasons for their existence; their meaning and significance; and the various metamorphoses they have undergone since their inception. Such considerations can then, we hope, open a door to the true source of human morality in general. This is of the utmost importance in our time; for all moral values--and this includes the 'moral freedom' people frequently crave today--can be sustained only if such values are based on insight in the living process through which morality develops in human beings, both in the past and in our own time."

Letters to Anthroposophical Society members and "Guidelines" (CW 26)From the time of the Foundation Meeting of the Anthroposophical Society (Dornach, Christmas to the New Year, 1923-24) until his death shortly before Easter 1925, Rudolf Steiner wrote a weekly letter addressed to the members of the Anthroposophical Society. The letters were printed in the members' supplement to the Goetheanum Weekly and in its English edition, Anthroposophical Movement.This book represents the second part of the volume containing Rudolf Steiner's letters and guidelines. The earlier letters speak of the character and aims of the Anthroposophical Society and the social tasks arising in the anthroposophic movement. They deal with the problems encountered in the common study of spiritual science (Anthroposophy) and in its presentation to the world at large, relating it to the prevailing science and civilization of the time.With the exception of the first two letters (issued in August 1924 while he was in England), those in this volume were written by Rudolf Steiner from his sickbed during his final illness. During those final six months of his life, the letters--always written in the very early hours of the morning--arrived with unfailing regularity. The last of these letters was not published until two weeks after his death. These letters form a continuous series and were given the appropriate collective title The Michael Mystery. As such, they constitute an invaluable addition to the great teacher's fundamental works on spiritual science.GUIDELINES, MARCH 8, 19251. At the beginning of the consciousness-soul age, a dimming of the sense of belonging to the world beyond the earth took place. On the other hand, a feeling of belonging to the earth in experiencing sensory impressions grew so strong, particularly in scientific circles, that it amounted to a state of bedazzlement.2. The ahrimanic powers have an especially dangerous influence in this condition, because people live under the illusion that a bedazzled experience of sensory impressions is good and right and represents a real advance in evolution.3. Man must develop the strength to illumine his world of ideas and to experience it as light-filled, even in cases where the ideas involved are not based on the bedazzling world of the senses. An awareness of belonging to the cosmic realm beyond the earth will awaken in experiencing the independent and independently illumined world of ideas. The basis for Michaelic festivals will grow out of this feeling.This volume is a translation of the final nineteen letters from Anthroposophische Leitsätze, Der Erkenntnisweg der Anthroposophie--Das Michael-Mysterium (GA 26).

The Heart is the meeting place of the individual and the divine, the inner ground of morality, authenticity, and integrity. The process of coming to the Heart and of realizing the person we were meant to be is what Carl Jung called 'Individuation'. This path is full of moral challenges for anyone with the courage to take it.Using Jung's premise that the main causes of psychological problems are conflicts of conscience, Christina Becker takes the reader through the philosophical and spiritual aspects of the ethical dimensions of this individual journey toward wholeness. This book is a long overdue and unique contribution to the link between individuation and ethics.Christina Becker, M.B.A. is a Zurich-trained Jungian Analyst in private practice in Toronto, Ontario Canada.

"A drama in two parts in sequel to the four mystery dramas by and through Rudolf Steiner (and in appreciation of Tony Kushner's Angels in America)."

This gentle story for young children follows Scoochie and her animal and gnome friends through the seasons of the year as they understand and live out the values of the farm: a deep reverence for nature, kindness towards all creatures, love and goodness.

How the sounds of spoken language arise is ultimately still a mystery to researchers. Acoustic phonetics has analyzed sound phenomena, whereas articulatory phonetics determines the physiological formation of spoken language. Little is known about the air, however, the central element of speech both within and immediately outside the body as it relates to audible sounds.In 1924, Rudolf Steiner expressed the wish that an experimental method would be found by which sounds from the speaker's mouth could be rendered visible and thereby confirm the primal phenomenon embodied in the art of eurythmy as "visible speech."Following Steiner's suggestions, Johanna Zinke first succeeded in capturing these air sound forms on photographic plates in 1962. She showed that each spoken sound generates a reproducible figure for a split second in midair. Maintier expanded on this work with the help of acoustic and laser-video phonetic analysis, showing that the segmentation of speech signals correlates with the speech air-flow figures. His results further reveal a surprising connection with modern flow and chaos research. Maintier therefore concludes that speaking goes far beyond production of acoustic waves; it arises through precise modulations of breath. It is an "art of movement."